Blizzard has shared an update on how its Defense Matrix is working to combat the kind of cheating and “disruptive behaviour” you might have come across while hunting down those Overwatch 2 achievements, expanding on improvements to text chat, ensuring there is “no more benefitting from cheaters,” and more. The Defense Matrix is the name “for our collection of efforts to quell the cheating, disruptive chat, and griefing issues that negatively impact many multiplayer video games, including Overwatch 2,” Blizzard explained in a blog post. A team made up of devs, researchers, and community experts work together on this, with Blizzard’s “core principles” being “Fair is Fun” and for a “Safe and Inclusive Social Experience.” Part of the Defense Matrix is a “zero-tolerance policy” for cheating, and Blizzard adds that it’s banned over 250,000 accounts since Overwatch 2’s launch. On top of this, it’s also continuing to look at players who “conspicuously group with cheaters in an attempt to benefit from the cheating” with Blizzard having suspended or banned thousands of accounts of players who behaved in this way. “The rollout of this system in regional tests has proven successful, and we’ll be expanding to new regions worldwide,” the update adds. It seems the action taken against those playing with a cheater will be different than that taken against the cheater themselves, as Blizzard asks players to report cheaters, but not the cheater’s team, so that Blizzard can then take a separate look at those players with the cheater.The Defense Matrix team is also looking at getting rid of inappropriate names for Battle Tags, Custom Games, and the like, and also notes the success it’s had so far with the technology it’s using to find instances of disruptive voice chats so that Blizzard can take action. The text chat improvements, meanwhile, include removing the option for “Unfiltered” chats (which let you chat without the restrictions of the Mature and Friendly chat settings). If you’d had the Unfiltered chat setting, you’ll now have Mature. Blizzard also plans to show players the effects of their reports about disruptive behaviour by giving them log-in notifications to let them know when actions have been taken because of that players report. As the types of cheating and disruptive behaviour continue to evolve, so too do the methods used to combat them. Call of Duty, for instance, aims to fight toxicity with AI voice chat moderation. “Thank you, heroes, for your continued efforts to help us keep Overwatch 2 a fun and fair game for everyone to play,” Blizzard concludes.
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